NAMCO BANDAI Games officially announces the Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, the recently hinted PC edition of the action/RPG which adds some content not in the console version. This is expected via digital distribution on August 24th, and here's word:

SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 11, 2012) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that, by popular demand, Dark Souls™: Prepare to Die™ Edition will be releasing for the PC platform in North America on August 24th. This special, content-enhanced edition of the critically acclaimed Action-RPG developed by FromSoftware will be finely-tuned to cater to the PC gaming audience while retaining all of the deep challenge, rich atmosphere, and compelling gameplay that made the game a worldwide phenomenon. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on the PC platform will also include an enhanced PVP mode allowing players to more closely assemble battles against one another online in an all-out fight to the death that fans have demanded.

In addition, the development team at FromSoftware has revealed an untold chapter in the world of Lordran created specifically to help further expand upon the lore of the game. ‘Artorias of the Abyss’ will include all-new areas to explore, enemies to encounter, and bosses to take down one by one as players are treated to an unseen side of Lordan where players must stop the spread of darkness at all costs by facing and defeating the Dark Knight Artorias.

“Our fans demanded to see this game brought to the PC, and the noise they have made was simply too loud and too passionate to ignore,” said Hidetaka Miyazaki, Creative Director for Dark Souls at FromSoftware, Inc., “This also allowed us to dive back into the world of Dark Souls, offering a special edition of the game that offers more ways to die over and over again than ever before. Adding a whole new chapter to tell the tale of the Dark Knight Artorias was an opportunity we’re also proud to have taken, as we’ve managed to expand the experience for our biggest fans without compromising the balance of the core game that we worked so hard to create. This edition of the game is our gift to the fans.”

Heralded by critics worldwide, IGN referred to the original Dark Souls™ release as, “One of the most thrilling, most fascinating and most completely absorbing experiences in gaming,” while GameSpot called it, “Extraordinary… an awesome and menacing world you may never forget.”

With tense dungeon crawling and fearsome enemy encounters, the seamlessly intertwined world of Dark Souls is full of extreme battles, rewarding challenges, nuanced weaponry and magic, and the flexibility to customize each character to suit any desired play style. The innovative online component allows gamers to draw from the collective experience of the Dark Souls community as they either help or sabotage each other on the journey through the world of Lordran to save the land from darkness. With a massive, seamless open world design, Dark Souls encourages deep exploration and an adaptable gameplay experience.

Dark Souls™: Prepare to Die™ Edition will be available for digital download on the PC platform in North America on Augist 24th. For more information on the game, please be sure to visit www.PrepareToDie.com and www.facebook.com/DarkSouls.

MajorD wrote on Apr 11, 2012, 17:48:I don't care for GFWL as much as the next person, but there always seems to be quick work-arounds out there. The easiest one I came across was for FallOut 3 G4WL Disabler Mod , which is a simple and quick executable utility that doesn't install anything. It would be nice if this guy (Quarn) could write it universally for all GFWL games - the ones that are 'not' multiplayer anyway.

I play FO3 from Steam and you don't need GFW. It just doesn't use your profile and you don't get your gamer score. Big whoop. Just dont't login. Boom.

And you guys are smoking some serious crack if you think Origin is better than GFWL. I don't like it either, but I don't cry over it.

I'm hoping this will be a solid port. The inclusion of GFWL is disappointing but not necessarily a deal-breaker if the rest of the port is well-done. It would suck if the port was lousy and sold poorly as a result, only for Namco to never release anything on PC ever again because they correlated the poor sales with piracy instead of product quality.

Thank you for bringing this to PC.I'm sorry you chose the worst possible DRM for your potential customers, but this will still be a day one purchase for me to support this kind of decision to bring one of the best console rpg's ever designed.

The problem is that this is a multiplayer game at its core, playing this game offline hollows out its experience. GFWL will make or break this port, and based on their past track record Microsoft seems to think there is nothing wrong with it.

I bought this on the PS3 and if they do this right I will buy it again for PC.

Also any info as to what "...finely-tuned to cater to the PC gaming audience..." means exactly? Will have the ugly big scroll forever user interface of the original? Will we have higher resolution textures and anti aliasing?

I don't care for GFWL as much as the next person, but there always seems to be quick work-arounds out there. The easiest one I came across was for FallOut 3 G4WL Disabler Mod , which is a simple and quick executable utility that doesn't install anything. It would be nice if this guy (Quarn) could write it universally for all GFWL games - the ones that are 'not' multiplayer anyway.

"My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry S. Truman

I'll buy that for a dollar....or whatever amount of dollars they want. Played a borrowed copy on PS3, it hurts so good. Hopefully it's a decent port. GFWL is certainly a downer though, I'd even take Origin over that piece of garbage.

Pineapple Ferguson wrote on Apr 11, 2012, 16:30:Any idea on the DRM? That's the only thing that will keep me from buying this. Well that, and a shitty port.

edit: Nevermind, the FB page has a big GFWL logo, ugh. That's really fucking frustrating, they could have picked Origin and it would have been more acceptable

The only real saving grace is the low player limit and the fact that matchmaking was the only way to play in the console version too. The only title where GFWL didn't annoy me was Age of Empires Online, in pretty much every other game its either been cumbersome or useless.